Active workstations: A literature review on workplace sitting.

The purpose of this paper is to further understand current literature on prolonged sitting, sitting posture and active sitting solutions. This paper is divided into three sections: The first section (Part I) is a comprehensive overview of the literature on how a static prolonged seated posture can affect: spinal health, trunk posture, contact pressure/discomfort development and vascular issues. The second section (Part II) reviews and qualitatively compares the four working postures recognized in ANSI/HFES 100-2007: reclined sitting, upright sitting, declined sitting and standing. The final section (Part III) is a summary of research on active chairs that revolves around the two types of movement patterns: 1- sustaining continual movement over a range of postures, occasionally reaching neutral lordosis, and 2- maintaining high frequency and duration of daily light contractile activity in the legs (or lower limbs).

'Am I going to see the next morning?' A qualitative study of patients' perspectives of sleep in COPD.

AIM: To investigate patients' perspectives of sleep in COPD. METHOD: Patients with moderate to severe COPD underwent semi-structured interviews about their sleep experiences. Contextual questionnaire data were collected. RESULTS: Ten patients were studied. Six reported bad sleep, but all described some sleep problems. Nocturnal anxiety and fears of breathlessness and dying were common features; these impacted on existing sleep problems related to exacerbations, medications, and habitual behaviours that can disrupt sleep. Poor sleep was associated with poorer health status. Patients reported a lack of support from their GPs and few had received advice for sleep problems. CONCLUSION: Anxiety about breathlessness affects the sleep experience of patients with COPD, and sleep quality impacts on physical and emotional functioning. Education about behaviours that can disrupt sleep offers potential benefits to the patient. COPD patients' sleep issues are complex and should be addressed at the clinical consultation.